choose your voice.
Only two sets, perfected until each became the definitive voice: Strat-style, Tele-style.
A machine winds it perfect. We don't want perfect.
An automatic winder lays the wire in even, identical turns. The result is a precise, predictable, slightly lifeless pickup. Winding by hand introduces small irregularities in how the turns stack, which changes the parasitic capacitance of the coil and with it the way the pickup breathes on top. It is the same reason a handmade dish never tastes quite like the factory version, imperfection, done with care, is where the flavour lives.
It is the reason fifties sets, wound by people and not by robots, still sound different sixty years later.
Every set is wound by hand, start to finish, in our workshop in Forli, Italy. We would not know how to do it any other way.
From Empty Bobbin to Final Listen
Four steps, no shortcuts. It is the same discipline an Italian luthier has always put into an instrument nobody was watching them build.
Magnet Calibration
Every Alnico slug is magnetised to our own procedure and measured. The six positions are not identical: gauss varies to balance the response string by string.
Scatter Winding
The wire is guided by hand, not by a mechanical traverse. Turns land unevenly on purpose. This is where character comes from, and the part nobody can automate.
Measure and Test
Resistance, inductance, frequency response. Then the set goes into a test guitar and gets played through an amp. If it does not sing, it does not leave the bench.
Wound to Order
We keep no stock. Your set is wound after you order it, which is why it takes two to three weeks and why no two sets are ever quite the same, a small imperfection we are proud of, not a flaw we hide.
Played Where It Counts
Emanuel Hedberg picked up both sets, '59 Tone Greaser and '57 Roadster, and shot these on his own guitars. No script, no retakes: this is exactly how they respond under his hands.
In Italy we have always known that some things are born to sing: an opera voice, a glass of wine, a piece of wood that has waited long enough to open up. A great guitar is the same kind of chain, the wood resonates, the neck responds, the pickups translate. We wind ours by hand, one at a time, so the translation is worthy of what the instrument is already doing.
We are not chasing the pickup that impresses in the first thirty seconds. Like any good Italian opera, we are after the one that still moves you at the third act, after three hours of rehearsal.
Questions
Do they fit my Strat-style or Tele-style guitar?
Yes, they follow standard S-style and T-style dimensions, including those of Asian-built guitars. If your body has unusual routing or a non standard pickguard, write to us before ordering and we will check together.
How long does it take?
We wind to order and keep no stock: around 30 to 35 days to build and ship your set. On top of that, shipping itself takes about a week on average with standard postal carriers, though the exact timing is out of our hands once it leaves the bench. We keep you updated by email along the way.
Do I need a tech to install them?
If you can use a soldering iron and have worked on a pickguard before, you can do it yourself: we include the wiring diagram. Otherwise any luthier will fit them quickly. On request we can also supply a fully wired pickguard, ready to drop in. Write to us for a quote.
Do you ship outside Italy?
Yes, we ship across Europe and worldwide. Shipping is calculated at checkout based on destination. For non EU countries, any customs duties and taxes are the recipient's responsibility.
What if they don't convince me?
You have 14 days from delivery to withdraw, as provided by law, and the set must come back in as-new condition: leads not shortened, properly unsoldered. Return shipping is always at the customer's expense, and we inspect every return before refunding. Damage from the trip back is not something we can be responsible for, so it is not covered by the refund. If something feels off in the sound, write to us first: nine times out of ten it comes down to pickup height.
One hundred sets at launch price.
This is not marketing theatre, and the crossed out price is not there to look good. €299 and €279 are the real list prices of these sets: that is what they will cost, for everyone, the day the hundredth set is sold. We are giving the first hundred away at almost half, as a thank you to the people who believed in this workshop early. One hundred sets that we wind by hand, in Italy, and hands are slow. Buono, si fa aspettare.
Choose your setStrat®, Stratocaster®, Tele® and Telecaster® are registered trademarks of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. We use the terms Strat-style and Tele-style only to describe body and pickguard dimensions our pickups are built to fit. Luke's Guitars and Luke's Handwound Pickups are independent, are not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Fender, and do not sell Fender products.